Valentine’s Day is the day of lovers, and what better way to say I love you than with a Valentine’s cake? Here, you’ll find 14 Unique Valentine’s Day cake ideas, including easy cake ideas, with instructions to recreate them, and a cake recipe recommendation perfect for the occasion. Whether you’re simply looking for inspiration or whether you want to recreate one of these beautiful cakes yourself, you’ll find what you need.
How to find a Valentine’s cake idea suited to your cake-decorating level?
I’ve come up with a system. The cake ideas are presented to you according to their level of difficulty. There are three categories :
What Are Beginner Cake Ideas?
These are the easy cake ideas. If you’ve never decorated a cake before (or only did it once or twice), these are the cakes that you should pay attention to.
- What you’ll find: Beautiful cake ideas that only require basic cake decorating techniques. This is a great place to start your journey.
What Are Intermediate Cake Ideas?
Low Intermediate Baker: If you are confident that you’ve mastered the cake decorating basics, such as how to smooth a cake, but feel like you still have a lot of techniques to learn apart from this foundation, this category is perfect for you.
- What you’ll find: Valentine’s Day cake ideas that require both basic decorating skills and one or two techniques that are a little bit more advanced. This is a great place to grow your cake-decorating skills.
High Intermediate Baker: If you’ve mastered both basic techniques and several more advanced cake decorating techniques, these cake ideas are made for you.
- What you’ll find: Stunning cake ideas that can be fairly challenging, but are a great place to get even better than you already are.
What Are Advanced Cake Ideas?
If you consider yourself an experienced cake decorator and have mastered most of the decorating techniques, including the use of fondant, then this is the perfect place for you.
- What you’ll find: Showstopping and challenging cake ideas, perfect to sharpen and maintain your skills.
The Grading System
Finally, I’ve also assigned a grade of difficulty to each cake inspiration: 1/5 being the easiest design to 5/5 being the hardest one. The goal is to make the ranking the most accurate possible. You will find this to be particularly helpful if you happen to fall in the Beginner or the Intermediate Cake Ideas categories.
Growth Tip : This list is great a place to set goals about your cake decorating skills. Pin this post and come back later to tell us how far you’ve come in your cake decorating journey !
How to recreate these Valentine’s cake ideas?
What cake recipe should you use to make your perfect cake come true?
To recreate these cake ideas, you will need a trustworthy cake recipe. You have several options.
Adapt your favorite cake recipe
There are a lot of ways to adapt a cake recipe. You mainly have four options to tweak your favorite recipe :
- You could change the flavor of your cake recipe: with citrus zest, the essence of your choice, or turn it into a chocolate or carrot cake for example.
- You could add a filling: a caramel sauce, a homemade flavored whipped cream, a flavored ganache, or simply a flavored buttercream.
- You could also add some texture: oreo bits, crumble crumbs, nuts, or fresh fruit for example.
- Finally, you could personalize your frosting.
You could also play with the color of your cake batter, a pink or a red cake, like a red velvet cake, would be a great idea for a Valentine’s Day cake.
Be careful, if you’re a beginner baker, having to figure out both your cake design and creating a new cake recipe could be overwhelming. Therefore, I always recommend taking your learning journey one step at a time.
Look for a cake recipe
Where? You can ask friends, or family or simply look on the internet. You have to keep two things in mind though :
- The recipe has to be suitable for cake decorating, especially for cakes that require stacking or carving (intermediate and advanced cake ideas).
- Once again, if you’re a beginner baker, be careful not to put too much on your plate and choose a recipe suited to your current level.
Use my cake recipe recommendation
For the day of love, I believe a red velvet cake is the perfect cake recipe to use. It’s also a basic, but delicious recipe that you can use all year long. I recommend using the Red Velvet Cake Recipe of Mk Cake.
What you will love about this recipe :
- It’s perfect for beginners
- It’s perfect for cake decorating
- It’s moist and it tastes amazing
How to follow the instructions of the designs.
For the cake designs in the beginner category: I’ll provide written instructions on how to recreate the cake idea presented to you. Don’t hesitate to watch video tutorials about the basic techniques such as how to smooth a cake.
For the designs in the intermediate category: I’ll provide some guidance on how to perform the more complicated techniques.
For the advanced category: you are an experienced baker, at this point, and you will find great opportunities to put this experience to use. To be completely honest, I cannot make myself several cake ideas from the advanced category, so trust your abilities and go for it.
Find the perfect Valentine’s Day cake idea for your baking skills.
Growth Tip : If you aim to get better at cake decorating, you should choose a cake idea that feels sligthly above your current cake decorating level. Get out of your comfort zone !
Valentine’s Cake Ideas Perfect for Beginner Bakers
Here, you’ll find 4 easy cake ideas perfect for beginner bakers.
A Simple Valentine’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 1/5.
This cake is perfect for beginners as it only requires the most basic techniques. If you wanted to make it even easier you would use a premade cake topper, whether than a homemade chocolate one.
What you will need:
- Enough frosting to cover your cake.
- Chocolate for the heart cake topper
- Sprinkles and edible pearls
How to recreate this cake?
- To cover the cake. First, you must crumb-coat the cake to avoid any crumbs in your final design. Apply a thin and even coat of frosting with your offset spatula all around your cake.
- Smooth it with your bench scraper, holding it at a 45-degree angle on the cake while spinning your turntable. Your bench scraper isn’t supposed to move, only turn the table.
- It doesn’t have to be perfect as it only is the first coat. Chill the cake in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes (until your frosting sets).
- Then, apply a thicker coat of frosting and repeat the smoothing operation. Fill in any gaps and smooth the cake again. Repeat this operation until the cake looks smooth enough for you.
- Decorate your cake with your sprinkles and chill it again for 30 minutes.
- Cut the top edges of the cake with a hot knife to get sharp edges. Here, you’ll find a video tutorial of the covering process, if needed.
- For the chocolate cake toppers. As a beginner cake decorator, I suggest you buy them rather than make them yourself. But, if you still want to give it a try, simply melt chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave and place it into a piping bag.
- Place sticks (lollipop sticks or toothpicks for example) on a sheet of parchment paper. Cut the tip of your piping bag and draw your heart over your sticks. Insist on the meeting point with the stick to make sure the hearts will hold.
- Let the hearts air dry. Then, take them off the parchment sheet and turn them around.
- Strengthen the meeting point with a little bit of melted chocolate and let it dry.
- Finally, decorate your cake with your cake toppers.
What you’ve learned :
Now, you are able to take the most basic cake and turn it into something exceptional.
XOXO Cake
Difficulty Level: 1/5.
If you’re looking for a more trendy look, this is the cake for you.
What you will need :
- Enough frosting (yellow, white, and red) to cover and decorate your cake.
- A piping bag with a thin round piping tip (or simply cut your piping bag straight, 1/2 cm or 1/4 inch from the tip).
- Sprinkles.
How to recreate this cake?
- For the cover of the cake. First, you must crumb-coat the cake to avoid any crumbs in your final design. Apply a thin and even coat of frosting with your offset spatula all around your cake.
- Smooth it with your bench scraper, holding it at a 45-degree angle on the cake while spinning your turntable. Your bench scraper isn’t supposed to move, only turn the table.
- It doesn’t have to be perfect as it only is the first coat. Chill the cake in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes (until your frosting sets).
- Then, apply a thicker coat of frosting and repeat the smoothing operation. Fill in any gaps and smooth the cake again. Repeat this operation until the cake looks smooth enough for you. Here, you’ll find a video tutorial of the covering process, if needed.
- For the writing on the cake. If you’re not used to writing with buttercream, use a toothpick or the tip of a knife to trace where you’re going to write.
- Place your sprinkles leaving enough room for the writing. Then chill your cake for 30 minutes or until your buttercream cover sets, so it doesn’t get damaged in case you have trouble with the next step.
- Now you can retrace over the imprint you made on your buttercream. If you’d like to practice beforehand, you can always do so on a sheet of parchment paper until you’re confident enough.
- If you want to recreate the exact same effect as in the picture, you’ll have to retrace your buttercream writing a second time in a different color.
- Finally, cut the top edges of the cake with a hot knife to get sharp edges.
What you’ve learned :
You’re now able to write on cakes, which is a quite handy skill to master for any cake decorator.
A “Love You” Cake
Difficulty Level: 1/5
What you will need :
- Enough frosting (light and dark pink) to cover and decorate your cake.
- A piping bag and a piping tip similar to the 6B by Wilton (star tip)
How to recreate this cake?
- For the cover of the cake and the writing. Simply follow the exact same steps as explained for the previous design.
- For the buttercream shell border. Hold the piping bag at a 45-degree angle next to the cake’s edge.
- Squeeze the piping bag to release the icing, and pull the bag away while releasing pressure forming a shell shape.
- Keep piping shells to form a border around the cake. Maintain a consistent angle and pressure for uniform shells.
- Remember, you can always practice on a sheet of parchment paper before piping on the actual cake. To get more clarity you can watch this quick buttercream shell border tutorial.
What you’ve learned :
Shell borders are a beginner-friendly and classical way to elevate the look of your cakes.
Bento Valentine’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 1,5/5.
What you will need :
- Enough frosting (White and red) to cover and decorate your cake.
- A piping bag with a thin round piping tip (or simply cut your piping bag straight, 1/2 cm or 1/4 inch from the tip of the piping bag).
How to recreate this cake?
- For the cover of the cake and the writing. Simply follow the exact same steps as explained for the previous designs.
- For the buttercream hearts. Sometimes, images are worth a million words, so you can watch this very quick tutorial to learn how to recreate these cute buttercream hearts. Simply use a thinner piping tip.
- Finally, decorate the cake with your sprinkles and cake toppers.
What you’ve learned :
You’re slowly starting to build strong cake-decorating foundations. Well done!
If you’d like to see more easy cake ideas for Valentine’s Day, check out these 14 Unique Heart Cake Ideas.
Valentine’s Day Cake Ideas for Intermediate Bakers
Here, you’ll find 7 Valentine’s Day cake ideas for intermediate bakers.
Sprinkles Heart Cake
Difficulty level: 2/5 (Low-Intermediate)
If you’re looking for a bit of originality, this cake is perfect for you. With its negative space heart made with sprinkles, it perfectly suits the Valentine’s Day theme, while still being unique.
A little guidance
If you plan on recreating this design yourself, simply place a heart paper pattern on your buttercream cover, and place your sprinkles all around it. Once you’re done, take off the paper pattern, and place sprinkles on the borders of the heart to get a neater finish.
A Valentine’s Day Cake.
Difficulty Level: 2,5/5 (Low-Intermediate)
If you’re looking for cake ideas just for your significant other and you, mini cakes and bento cakes are exactly what you need.
A little guidance.
If you’re wondering how to recreate this beautiful textured buttercream, there’s nothing simpler. Simply use a cake comb. Once you finish smoothing your buttercream, use your cake comb around your cake, holding it as straight as possible all along.
A Black Valentine’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 3/5 (Intermediate)
A little guidance
To get a frosting as black as this one, I suggest you don’t start with a clear base, but with a chocolate frosting such as a chocolate buttercream or ganache. This way you won’t have to use as much black food coloring to get a beautiful result.
Love Letter Cake
Difficulty Level: 3/5 (Intermediate)
This cake design is quite similar to the previous one, but the ruffled heart cake topper really makes the cake stand out from the crowd.
A little guidance
Recreating this beautiful ruffle heart cake topper will take you quite some time, but I’ve included a detailed video tutorial to guide you through the process.
A Naked Valentine’s Cake
Difficulty Level: 3/5 (Intermediate)
Naked cakes tend to be really elegant, just like this naked Valentine’s cake. But, they can get very messy, quite quickly, if you’re not careful enough, which is why this design is more suited to intermediate cake decorators.
A little guidance
There aren’t any tips I can give you here except to take your time at each step of the process to get the neatest finish. Also, be careful when moving this cake, as naked cakes tend to be less stable than covered ones as they’re not held by the buttercream.
A Heart Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
If you’re looking for another original cake decorating idea, this cake is a great idea. While number cakes are really popular, other shapes, like this heart cake tend to be way more rare. Yet, they look just as beautiful.
A little guidance
To recreate this heart-shaped cake, you don’t have to use a special cake tin. You can simply bake your cake in one or several sheet cake pans. Make sure it’s thick enough though, and cut your heart cake in it following a paper pattern.
A Thousand Hearts Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
This cake design definitely isn’t the most subtle on the list, so if you want your message to be perfectly clear this is the cake for you.
A little guidance
When recreating this layered buttercream, make sure your first buttercream layer has perfectly set in the fridge otherwise, you risk ruining it when applying your second layer.
Striped Valentine’s Cake
Difficulty Level: 4/5 (Intermediate)
This striped pink cake looks super cute and it would obviously be perfect for Valentine’s Day.
A little guidance
When making a striped cake always make sure your first buttercream layer is perfectly set, before moving on on to the next step. Here, you’ll find a quick tutorial to get the neatest striped cake possible.
Valentine’s Drip Cake
Difficulty Level: 4/5
This cake looks absolutely stunning and considering how many elements there are to recreate, it’s definitely a high-intermediate cake design.
A little guidance
When using fresh flowers on your cakes, don’t forget to wrap the stems in floral tape. Moreover, always temper your chocolate when making chocolate decorations to get a prettier finish and make it easier to work with.
A Velvet Hearts Cake
Difficulty Level: 4,5/5
This kind of velvety buttercream would take any cake to the next level. So if you’re looking for something a bit more elaborate while still being intermediate level, this cake is perfect for you.
A little guidance
To recreate this velvety texture, you’ll have to use a chocolate velvet spray. You can either buy it premade as a spray can or you could invest in a chocolate spray gun. This texture is quite tricky to recreate, so to get the most uniform finish, you’ll need a little bit of practice.
Valentine’s Day Cake Ideas for Advanced Bakers
Finally, you’ll find 2 complex Valentine’s Day cake ideas for advanced bakers.
A Cartoon Heart Cake
Difficulty level: 5/5
If you’re looking for a bit of originality, with its cartoon effect, this cake is perfect for you. It might look a bit simple, but always keep in mind that simple and easy are not the same thing, especially when it comes to cake decorating.
Standing Heart Cake
Difficulty Level: 5/5
This standing heart is absolutely gorgeous. To recreate this work of art you’ll definitely need an advanced baking level but it’s a beautiful way to say I love you.
If you want to see more Valentine’s Day cake inspirations, check out these 14 Unique Heart Cake Ideas.
Did you enjoy these Valentine’s cake inspirations? Sharing is caring!
Please let me know in the comments and/or tag me on Instagram @theperfectcakeidea. I’d love to see your creations. And, don’t forget to pin this post so you can come back to it.
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